Petersen: 'Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy'

A young boy had to say just one line at his church’s Christmas program. It was the angel’s announcement of the birth of Jesus: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.” For weeks the boy worked on learning his part.

The big night finally arrived. Just before he was to begin the program, the boy repeated those words to himself one last time. But when he went on the stage and saw that so many people had come, the few words he had to say were lost from his memory.

But then the boy raised his arms high and said in a loud voice that rang throughout the sanctuary, “Boy, have I got good news for you tonight!”

Good news, indeed.

Christ’s birth is the good news of God’s love for all humankind. Although God entered the world in human form more than 2,000 years ago, the meaning and impact of Jesus’ birth are as real as when Mary first laid him in a manger.

During Advent, when many Christians prepare their hearts to celebrate the meaning of Christmas, prophetic writings from Hebrew scripture are read to affirm that Jesus is the promised redeemer of God’s people.

We may hear the familiar words of Isaiah 7:14: “The virgin shall be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel [God with us].” Or Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Or Micah 5:2: “For out of you [Bethlehem] will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel,”

After those words of promise and hope were proclaimed, God’s people would walk in darkness and not hear the promises of God for more than 400 years. But the faithful remnant remained steadfast, believing their redeemer would someday come.

And so he did, in the person of Jesus Christ.

We don’t know the exact date of Jesus’ birth or all of the details about that event. Having such information might be useful, but the real key is to remember why Jesus was born.

That reason is made clear in Matthew 1, which records how an angel came to Joseph in a dream and instructed him to give the name Jesus to the child Mary was carrying. In Hebrew, the name Jesus means “the Lord is salvation.” That’s who Jesus Christ is: Salvation. The child was to be named Jesus for, “He will save his people from their sins.”

You and I must choose how we will respond to the good news that Jesus is salvation. We can reject that message completely. We can play lip service to believing it, only to go through the motions of celebrating Christmas by confining Jesus to a nativity scene.

Or, you and I can embrace the reality of God’s presence made real through the person of Jesus Christ. We can celebrate that God loves the world so much that he entered our human condition to redeem us from sin and free us to be in relationship with him, just as he created us to be.

Like the shepherds and magi, we can worship the one who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords this Christmas and every day of our lives.

May this Christmas be blessed and filled with hope, peace, joy and love. May you look forward with anticipation to hearing the message first proclaimed by an angel and repeated by generations ever since: “Boy, have I got good news for you!”

In addition to serving as sports editor and staff writer at the Sentinel-News, Mike Petersen is a lay speaker.